As previously mentioned, due to Siberian-like weather conditions three weeks ago, our two flights to London with EasyJet were cancelled and we were offered a refund.

Claim #1, including our lost hotel room booking, was submitted using their online customer services form. A problem ticket number was received within a couple of minutes followed by a mail, 3 days later, confirming their intention to reimburse the full amount.

Claim #2 was originally submitted using the link provided via the cancellation mail. As no ticket number was returned, a week later I re-submitted the claim via the above-mentioned form and was duly treated to the (ticket) number I had sought after. And today I received the reimbursement confirmation mail for the second amount.

The moral of this story? Simple and pretty obvious: when dealing with a helpdesk or customer service organisation, ALWAYS make sure your issue is referenced via a ticket number.

“Oh why didn’t I request a problem ticket?”

This not only means that your problem will be handled accordingly; it also means that it will officially become subject to quality management, and quality is all it’s about, right?

Received a mail from Easyjet today:

Dear Mr Brighty,

Thank you for contacting us.

I would like to sincerely apologize for the long delay in responding to your e-mail. As we are receiving high volume of e-mails because of the disruption, therefore we are unable to answer your queries on time. However, I can assure you that this is not of our usual standard.

I would also like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience that the disruption to your flight may have caused you.

I can confirm that a payment of CHF ###, as refund of your cancelled flight and , has already been processed to the original method of payment. This will be made to the credit card used in your original booking within 5-10 working days.

I am happy to confirm a refund of £### to cover the cost of your hotel accommodation. This will be returned to the card used to make your easyJet reservation within 15-20 working days due to heavy backlog because of weather disruptions.

There IS hope after all!

And now let’s see what happens to our second claim…

And so it happened!

As I was driving home this evening, mentally ticking items off a virtual checklist, DBW called and informed me that we wouldn’t be going anywhere tonight: Gatwick was practically closed, Luton was no better off, and, at Heathrow, most BA flights were cancelled as well.

Oh joy!

So we were basically offered two choices: rebook our original flights to the next day or request a refund and start searching for an alternative. And as Swiss was only slightly more expensive, was flying around lunch and had not suffered any cancellations, our choice was rapidly made.

A couple of clicks later, we had booked and checked in; it was now time to process our cancellations.

Naturally our hotel for the night refused even to consider providing a reimbursement: a non-refundable tariff is cheaper for exactly that reason…

So we turned to our flights. And here is where it gets interesting: when Easyjet cancels a flight, they send you the following mail:

Dear Customer

We regret to advise you that due to unforeseen circumstances we have had to cancel the flight or flights detailed below:

Booking Number: EG6KVJX

Flight Date  -   Flight No.  -   Dept. Airport     -     Arriv. Airport     -     Dept. Time     -     Arriv. Time

07-01-2010     -     8868          –   ZRH                    -   LGW                   -   21:40               -    22:25

We would like to offer you one of the following in accordance with our obligations under EC Regulation 261/2004:

- A full refund of the cost of your flight and any directly related unflown sector within the same booking (if applicable), back to the original card your flight was paid with, or

- A free transfer to another flight on the same route within 30 days of the original flight date. If your flight is part of a return trip, you will be able to change any directly related sector(s) within the same booking free of charge to keep your initial intended length of stay.

Please click here to choose one of the options offered to you. Please ensure you cancel your travel insurance and/or car rental, if any.

Upon clicking on “here”, you are then offered to request a refund or rebook.

And when you select “refund” and click on “submit”, your next screen is a “Thank-you for submitting your request, we will get back to you”.

But then, you can also visit the Customer Services web site where you presented with a slightly more extensive form to fill in. Here you can mention any additional costs (such as hotels, etc..) which ensued due to the cancellation.

Being inquisitive, and having two separate bookings (Sarah’s was one-way), I tried both solutions with the following results:

Plan A, reacting to the email, produced another mail informing me that our case would be handled in due time, but we should be patient due to the “exceptional amount of requests received”

Plan B, submitting the request via the web site, provided me with a incident ticket number… and a mail reminding me of the “exceptional amount, blablabla”.

I am VERY curious about the outcome!

So tomorrow evening we’re off to London in order to deliver Sarah to her English course which starts next Monday…

Thank god DBW doesn’t visit this place too often, so she won’t see the following screenshot of the status of this morning’s Easyjet arrivals at Gatwick airport!

DBW and I have been contemplating making a weekend break to Dublin for a while, now.

So, on our way back from the Bloggy Friday, when she reminded me that Aer Lingus‘s “special offers” would expire last night at 24:00 and that we would absolutely have to book our flights before that deadline if we wished to stand a chance to save a couple of cents, my stomach started cringing, the saliva in my throat was instantly lyophilized before I uttered the fatal words that had been haunting my soul ever since she had mentioned the idea:

Remember when we traveled to Brugges last year? And you insisted we fly separately? So that we would reduce the chance of reducing the kids to orphans by 50%? If you (or I) crash? With the plane? And…like…die?

There was silence in the car.

Deep silence.

Complete with a deadly look which could only suggest that I would be immediately better off if I could instantly organize a one-way teleport to the nether world.

Followed by a typical woman-like

We’re not going to Dublin. Or Marrakech.

More deep silence ensued…

To which I countered with a feeble

Blablabla-airline safety records-blabla-fatal crashes-blabla-driving along-blabla-maniacs on the road-blabla-when is the last time we actually had a fatal crash-blabla-see: told you-blabla.

DBW must REALLY need a break: Dublin is booked, Marrakech: pending!

A fascinating video produced by the Zürich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) which depicts worldwide (civilian) air traffic over a 24 hour period:

Check the shadow for the time of day in the various locations!